Danielle R. Sassoon shot like a laser through the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office, with stints fighting violent crime and securities fraud as well as handling appeals before she was elevated, at age 38, to be its interim head.
There, just weeks into her tenure running the country’s most prestigious federal prosecutor’s office, she encountered an obstacle that has threatened to stall her rapid rise: the desire of President Trump’s administration to drop corruption charges against New York City’s mayor, Eric Adams.
Given her experience — and bulletproof conservative credentials as a member of the Federalist Society — Ms. Sassoon seemed ready to lead an office that saw tumultuous times during Mr. Trump’s first term, when he fired two of its U.S. attorneys. In recent days, prosecutors have been watching Ms. Sassoon anxiously to see how she might respond to the Justice Department’s demand that she drop the Adams case, which she had supported in a court filing.
She has had long experience standing up for her values before skeptical audiences. Now she has to mediate between an office where that kind of independence is prized and an administration that has given an explicitly political order to end the Adams prosecution.
Through a spokesman, Ms. Sassoon declined to comment for this article.
Before the Adams case vaulted her into the spotlight, her life had been characterized by achievement that was noteworthy even in environments where achievement is the norm. Born and raised in New York City, she attended the Modern Orthodox Ramaz School on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, where she was first in her class and received awards for academic excellence. In high school, she spent hours each day studying the Talmud, an effort that she has said prepared her to study law.
Rebecca Kaden, a close friend who met Ms. Sassoon right before they began their freshman year at Harvard University, said she always knew Ms. Sassoon would be a lawyer. The future U.S. attorney was cerebral, a dynamic thinker eager to discuss and debate ideas.